


All in the Family

by CarouselUnique



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi, One Shot Collection, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:40:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27794728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarouselUnique/pseuds/CarouselUnique
Summary: Assorted JessieVerse writings, fanart and headcanons from inside my brain (aka, my Tumblr) that I’m sharing on here, so people have more of an idea of the characters and the world of my content!Current - Chapter #2: Little Wing - Hyde comforting his daughter Jessie as she spends one of her first nights in their new house, in their new family.
Relationships: Jackie Burkhart/Eric Forman, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	1. Confrontation

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter #1: Confrontation - a Hyde and a Forman having a harsh moment over breakfast that shows just how much things have changed in the blended family so quickly.

_Timeline: Early-to-Mid 1995_

_Characters: Jessie Forman, Steven Hyde, Jackie Hyde, Reggie Hyde, Lucas Forman, Diana Forman + Eric Forman and Maggie Forman (Mentions Only)_

_Context: Jessie has found out previously that Hyde isn’t just her Stepdad, he’s her biological father and she’s holding that secret inside which has caused her to lash out at her family. She and her friend Trish had just finished spending the night in a jail cell for vandalizing the walls with graffiti and trying to free the animals inside. She’s grounded, and about to go visit Eric for the weekend._

* * *

  
“Jessica! You’re going to be late if you don’t hurry up and come downstairs to eat!”

Jessie heard the impatient, irritated voice of her mother and she could feel her own face scrunching up involuntarily from the sound. 

She exhaled out her nose and shoved Mr. Hopscotch more forcefully into her weekend bag than she usually would  _ (often choosing to treat the small, plush grasshopper with the gentle hands worthy of an old friend)_, zipping up the bag firmly when he fit. She used the action to let out her internalized frustration out before fixing herself to appear as neutral as possible. She didn’t quite know how to be zen, she just hoped she could manage it for as long as it took to get through a few minutes of interacting with her family. 

She was downstairs no more than a minute later, dressed entirely for the day and with her bag packed and right on her shoulders. It was as clear a message as you could get - she wasn’t bothering with any social interaction - she just wanted to head straight to school, then straight to see her Dad. Though she could feel their eyes fixed onto her, she refused to meet them - not even any of her siblings  _ (whether they were Forman or Hyde)_. 

Instead, she started fixing the cuff on her jean jacket sleeves, then the pins on her pocket. Anything, until the long moment of scrutiny had passed and they turned back to their food when they didn’t get anything from her, everyone preferring to quietly dig back into their food. 

Well... not _everyone..._

“Oh, there you are.” Jackie turned to face her from where she was standing by the counter. She wasn’t very happy with Jessie - that much was clear. “So nice of you to join us, after hiding in your room the whole week.” 

Frankly, after the week Jessie had, she could barely pretend to care about how her mother felt. First her petition failed, and those corporate bastards refused to end their animal testing for their awful makeup, then when she tries to right the wrong in a different way, she ends up spending an uncomfortable night inside a jail cell with only her friend as a pillow. Then, to add insult to injury, Mom, Dad and Hyde came together just to bail her out only to stick her into a grounding so thorough, she doubted she would see the light of day before Christmas. 

Which was just rich, even if they _(Mom and Hyde) _ weren’t Enemy #1 right now to Jessie, she failed to see how her... admittedly, radical activism for a righteous cause was the same as defacing the Memorial Water Tower with a pot leaf because you were just fending off boredom. If anyone shouldn’t be riding her about this sort of thing, it was a pair of frequent teenage stoners. So, needless to say, caring about how everyone else felt was not exactly a high priority right now. Much less about the feelings of hypocrites.

She mumbled, aiming for Zen _ (and not quite succeeding),_ “I was grounded for the foreseeable future, I didn’t think I was invited.” and rather than sit for a family breakfast of takeout, strode to the pantry to root through for some trail mix or granola. She tried not to react any worse than that, she didn’t want to give them any reason to start with her. Nor did she want to bother with false cheer or with unhealthy takeout inside styrofoam containers.

Push both her pet-peeve buttons at once, much?

If this had been a few months ago, she’d have made the breakfast herself, waking up before anyone else to exercise, then prepare a healthy yet delicious breakfast to help her family start the day… or, if she had help, it was from  _ him_. The thought of making pancakes...listening to Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson as the sun rose higher in the sky with her stepfather, dancing around the kitchen with slippery socks, laughing over whatever the family did over the past few days... it lost its appeal when it started to feel like a lie.

Now she barely stayed in the house long enough to see any of them before she was on the bus for school, choosing to bury her resentment by scarfing down a chocolate chip granola bar and leaving for the bus to school before anyone could try and stop her. She also stayed out as late as she could get away with, loitering at the arcade with her friends until she could just come home, serve herself leftovers and hide away inside her room until the process could repeat. It meant that the only family she saw were Lucas, Diana, Dad and Aunt Maggie on the weekends - and Grandma and Grandpa, where just for a few wonderful days, she could pretend things were okay.

Fine by her, not being around anyone here. She was only here because Mom wouldn’t let her out of their sight after  _ ‘her stunt at the factory’_. She got her own back by staying locked up inside her room, only poking her head out when Jackie knocked to ensure she was still there, then closing the door right back in her face.

Jessie allowed herself a revealing scowl as she stuck her head further inside the pantry to avoid listening to her mother scolding her. As usual she tries to do the right thing, tries to play by the rules no matter how unfair they feel and when she’s screwed, trying another approach, when she allows herself to be a  person, suddenly she’s the bad guy. She was sick of feeling that way.

“- and don’t think you’re going to get out of punishment just because you’re going to see your father,“ Jessie tuned back into the lecture at the mention of Dad, “He’s just as disappointed as I am.” Jessie sighed softly, the mention of her Dad being disappointed the one part of that night she regretted. The one part of all of this that she regretted. She hated lying to his face. She didn’t even know how much was a lie, she didn’t know how much he knew, about Hyde being her bio-father. She couldn’t tell him, and that made her more angry... and more sad... than anything else about this, the new barrier between her and her favorite person in the whole galaxy.

Jessie was about to concede, to say that she would behave, even if she was only doing it for Dad, when suddenly she heard an indignant voice from behind her, at the table -

“Why does  _ Jessie _ get to go somewhere when she’s grounded anyway? Whenever  _ I _ get in trouble, I have to stay here and watch everyone else do the fun stuff.” Reggie said, then she could hear him stuffing something into his mouth as if he didn’t just go down the exact wrong road to go down with his oldest sister.

Jessie felt her hand clench tightly, crushing her chosen breakfast bar and struggled to compose herself. Maybe she could let it go... he was just a kid and she shouldn’t let what he said get to her, though the frost in her veins that had began to live there since the truth case out was spreading further as what he said sank in. She felt ice from the tips of her toes to the ends of her fingers and a cold resentment crawling down her spine. She knew it was unfair as she was doing it, turning her anger out on a nine year old of all things, right now her body was on autopilot and her mind couldn’t talk her down enough to stop her furious heart from taking control.

“Reggie, she’s not-“ Hyde started, but Jessie did  _** not ** _ need any more of his attempts to try and pretend he was her friend or that he cared about her. If he wanted her to believe that, maybe he shouldn’t have ditched out on being her dad and lied to her face every single day of her life. Made her think that they were close when they clearly weren’t.

Jessie turned around with a smirk on her face that barely contained her anger, “You’re right pipsqueak, it’s not fair _at_ _all…_ ”

Lucas and Diana, with twin pairs of green eyes, exchanged a glance at each other, then fixed back onto Jessie. They both knew her well enough to know that the look she was sporting was as dangerous as it was rare from their sister. Diana, smart enough and self-preserving enough to not put herself in the line of fire, held up her hands as if to say  _ ‘Not touching this!’  _ and that left Lucas, who ran on different instincts, to try to say something to defuse the situation, “Jessie, sis, c’mon-“

Jessie held up a hand for quiet that Lucas and Diana immeadiately responded to, deferring to her authority that she only showed when she was serious. And she was, if she wasn’t listening to her best friends in the whole house. Then she walked over to the table and firmly set her hands on the surface, staring down with an almost mocking look at Reggie who was suddenly defensive, “We always go out and have a fun weekend with our Dad...who we barely get to see in the first place -“ She didn’t see the sudden guilt on the faces of her Mom and Stepdad, or the way the Twins winced and looked anywhere else, clearly resonating more than they let on…

“And, oh... poor Red Jr. you’re stuck here with your Mom and Dad, the way you are every single day. It must be so hard to have parents who are together and who don’t make you have to choose between them. I mean, you never have to worry about either of them not being there, or missing stuff with your friends whenever you have to leave.” Jessie sneered and felt a tiny bit of satisfaction in the way Reggie faltered, his defensive stare flicking away from her for a second, “You don’t have to miss your weekends with your Dad because Mom decides to drag you out for family bonding while you miss the only one you  want to bond with. You don’t have to feel guilty over how little you see one of them or how much you see the other one...”

She missed the glance exchanged from Jackie to Hyde once more, and the way Hyde was staring at Jessie, disturbed by her outburst, “... except, your older sisters and brother, they go to go to Funland more and see Grandma and Grandpa more. So clearly, this is hard on  you, and we’re just _SO_ lucky. _Right Reggie?”_

“Jessica Katherine Forman! Don’t you talk to your brother that way he didn’t mean it that way -“ Jackie started, though for the first time today she sounded more uneasy than stern, like she never expected this outburst from her and the ugly feeling of satisfaction inside the troubled teenage girl only increased. She didn’t even bother to look at her mother, instead keeping her eyes on Reggie.

He seemed as though he regretted starting her up, he wasn’t meeting her eyes at all any more and Jessie felt guilty. She swallowed, barely, her oldest sibling guilt stuck inside her throat... she used to be the best big sister ever, and now she barely qualified as a sister at all... she nearly backed off.

Nearly.

Except the flaw of the Hyde children was an inability to back off when cornered and Reggie, very cornered, slammed both of his hands down across from hers and nearly knocked his half-empty food containers over as he stared back at her, his brown eyes flashing. Which only made her own anger come back after the surprise wore off.

“I just… **_I just think it’s stupid!_ **You’re so  mean now! You’re always in trouble just like me now ‘cept Mom and Dad just let you do stuff and you don’t have to deal with them being mad because you just get to hide in your room, then go away! It’s not _**fair**_!”

Jessie snapped back in an instant, “Nevermind that you deserve to be punished with all the stuff you do on a daily basis. Standing up to a factory harming animals isn’t the same as, what was the last thing you did?”  


She didn’t wait for an answer, replying harshly, “Oh, right, breaking Uncle Fez’s entire storefront window with a hair supplies cart because you were bored! We are not the same Reginald, don’t compare us!” When the full names come out, that meant war.

“You _stink_ Jessica! You don’t deserve to do fun stuff, you should have to stay grounded here, you’re not better than me just cause you’re older and because you sign pieces of paper before you make messes! You get away with everything just because you have a different Dad!”

Jessie felt the last bits of her self control snap away at that, as she snorted derisively, “Well, I‘ve got an idea how we can fix that, maybe.”

Reggie was stumped at that and opened his mouth to reply, though Jessie didn’t give him the chance, continuing herself instead, “... We should trade. Mom can just marry  _ my _ Dad again, and then you guys can go visit your Dad on weekends - I’ll take my punishments at home _the way I deserve_ , and you can have fun here with your Dad whenever Mom remembers you’re supposed to see him,” 

Her eyes flicked away from Reggie and up to Hyde, making it clear to him that even though Reggie has set her off, this wasn’t a fight between the two of them, not truly, “It would fix all our problems, wouldn’t it _‘Uncle’_ Hyde? You wouldn’t mind if it I just left for good, right? I mean, I’m not - ”

She didn’t get a chance to deal the final blow, as a furious shriek of her name cut her off. She swore she saw his face hurting from what she said, but between his features snapping shut from Zen and Mom yelling her name, it vanished as quick as it appeared.

… And the worst part is that despite everything, she still cared enough to wonder if he felt bad. It  _sucked_.

* * *

Hyde felt older than ever, exhausted and complete shit as he closed the door behind him after one of the most tense car rides in the history of driving. He dropped off five kids at different schools, one of whom would barely look at him with how angry she was and four who looked at him far too much, wondering what he would say or do about the breakfast fallout. 

He had nothing, except the sense that he maybe knew what set Jessie off so much these past few months. If he was _right…_ well, he didn’t know what the Hell to do about it, and if he was right, he had likely lost her for good already. Even if he wasn’t, he missed her anyway.  


These days he was lucky if he even saw a curl from her hair disappear behind her bedroom door, let alone driving her to school. It wasn’t easy to deal with the idea of any of his kids hating his guts, but this... 

After he put so much work into earning Jessie back after not being there the way he should have been, after _ ‘taking her away from her Dad’ _ and settling into the new arrangement. Waking up early half the time to make breakfast with her, helping her decorate her bedroom so it felt more like a home, spending countless days and countless quarters away from Grooves and an a escalator ride down at the Mall Arcade playing games with her... 

He tried to be her friend, the _‘Cool Uncle’_ more than a parent, always bailing her out from what he honestly was proud of her for doing. She was standing up to the Man, wherever she could.  


He wished he could say she got that from him, except she wasn’t supposed to know she got  anything from him. After all he did to be at least a Stepdad to her, even if she didn’t know and wouldn’t see him as the Dad he truly was. 

He didn’t know what to do going forward, if he was right. Right now though, he could hear Jackie pacing from where he leaned against their front door, and her muttered cursing as a dial tone rang out loudly. He used whatever strength he had left to pluck the phone out of his wife’s hand and hang up.

“ ** _Steven!_** I was trying to call-“ she started, indignantly and he sighed out his reply.

“Forman, I know. And you can’t.” It was a firm no, to a woman who hardly ever accepted that as an answer, yet he refused to back down if she made a scene of it.

“Why not? She can’t go to see Eric after what she just did this morning. She  _ hurt _ you.” Jackie insisted, reaching out to hold his hand and squeeze it. He remembered the scene earlier, Jackie staring at him with concern after Jessie unleashed her razor sharp retort. If anyone could see through the Zen he put up to hide his feelings it was her and clearly she saw how much their kid had cut him with it.

“... Yeah, it hurt,” He was man enough to admit that his daughter hurt him, no Zen could allow him to deny that, “... but it’s not going to help anything if we take her Dad away from her. Man, she might run off and take the bus back to Point Place by herself at this point.” He certainly wouldn’t put it past her, after everything.  


“Besides... even if Jessie shouldn’t go, we have no right to take away  his time from her. He’s not the one who deserves to be punished.” Even if he was mad at Jessie, which he wasn’t sure he had any right to be, Eric had more than earned the right to see his daughter whenever he could. And, remembering her words from earlier, he suddenly felt his guilt return. It wasn’t often, but there _were_ times when the two of them kept the kids for the weekend if it meant spending time with the entire family. He couldn’t say anything to Jessie right now, but he could at least put that to an end.

Jackie moved herself closer to Hyde who welcomed her into his arms gladly, “I know, you’re right… I just don’t know what’s going on with her. This is so hard Steven. She‘s never acted like this before. I don’t know what’s going on or what I can do to help her. And now…” she trailed off, choosing to hide her face into his chest. He could feel her tremble and he closed his arms around her tighter. He could almost hear herself thinking she was a bad mother and he held her until she calmed down. She wasn’t one, he knew those better than anyone. She just happened to get stuck with him, and he wasn’t winning any awards for parenting any time soon.

He knew what was wrong with Jessie. Or at least, he suspected. He wanted to let someone know what he thought… let Jackie know what he thought… it would be the right thing to do.

Saying it out loud though, that made it real. That made Jessie drifting away not a possibility but an inevitability, and he wanted to hold onto the slightest hope that he was wrong, that this was just teen things, girl things, divorced parent things, whatever things would keep this from being something he couldn’t fix.

So instead he just stayed silent, held Jackie and focused his energy on comforting her, burying his nose on the crown of her hair and pushed the thought of Jessie knowing the truth down deep, hoping to God he wouldn’t regret that choice.


	2. Little Wing

_ Timeline: Early 1986 _

_ Characters: Jessie Forman and Steven Hyde, Eric Forman, Mentions of Jackie Forman, Lucas Forman and Diana Forman _

_ Context: It’s one of the first nights that Jackie, Hyde and the kids (Jessie, Lucas and Diana) are spending at their new house in Milwaukee and Jessie can’t sleep, so Hyde has to figure out how to comfort her and how to be close to her with the new dynamic they share as Soon-to-Be Stepfather and Stepdaughter. _

* * *

  
It was on his way back to bed from the bathroom that he could hear a noise, specifically the faint sounds of wood floor creaking under tiny feet. He paused his steps and just a second later, she did the same - the slight shadow that moved under her door told him she was currently pressing her ear against the door to see when he was back in his own bedroom. The corners of his mouth lifted at her attempt to be sneaky. Jessie was a smart kid, almost too much for her own good at times, but that didn’t change the fact that she was still little, and so easy to trick. He opened the closet door nearby then shut it after a few seconds, which did the trick. She was once again moving around her bedroom as if no one could hear what she was getting up to.

He quietly walked back to her door and made sure to knock just loud enough for her to hear, very aware of the fact that anything louder might wake the sleeping toddlers the next room over. “I know you’re up Kit.”

He waited for her to respond. He figured she’d try to pretend she wasn’t awake and hope he just went away, and the silence proved him right, so he knocked again to show that he wasn’t buying it. After a few heartbeats he heard her attempt an “... I’m sleeping,” in a voice that he thinks was supposed to sound tired. She even added a yawn at the end, for good measure.

Hyde snorted to himself at the fake yawn, then followed up with, “Then how are you answering me? And what’s with all the walking around?”

“Sleep... walking?” Jessie was not almost only too smart for her own good, this proved she was also almost too honest for her own good, because she couldn’t lie to save her life.

He played along, “Okay then, so you won’t mind if I come inside, since you’re asleep and won’t notice I’m there?“

He waited for her response and chuckled when he could hear her shuffling back under the covers and answer with a defeated sigh, “... No.”

He opened the door and shut it quietly before turning to see Jessie. Lit by a faint R2-D2 night light from the corner and with her covers up to her nose, all he could see were those big blue eyes looking up at him. He wished he could say he knew what his daughter was thinking, blinking up at him that way.

Unfortunately, he just didn’t know her enough yet.

“Look at that, you’re awake after all.” He teased as he sat at the edge of her bed to see Jessie who looked embarrassed at being caught out. He smiled to show her that it was okay, then continued, “Couldn’t sleep?”

“... Nuh-uh.” She lowered the covers a bit and shook her head, then reached for her grasshopper. He remembers giving that to her when she was a baby, and when the denial of their connection wasn’t something he could ignore by pushing Jackie away, or by chasing numbness at the bottom of a bottle any more. When he had to admit that he saw himself in the baby that wouldn’t know him as a father because of his own actions. He couldn’t just run away, from her or from Jackie any more so he bought her that grasshopper as a start and he has tried ever since to be there for her, whatever way he could.

Which suddenly got a lot harder once he and Jackie got back together, which made the new Forman family split up. Even though she didn’t know how to express those feelings and even though he couldn’t say he knew her exactly yet, he could see that she was uneasy around him, fearing the idea of her Dad, Eric, being replaced by her Uncle Hyde.

Oh, the irony of that one.

At least seeing the grasshopper, named ‘Mr. Hopscotch’ as soon as she could talk to give it one, meant that a part of him was welcome by her side and as far as he was concerned, that meant he still had a shot with her.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked, looking down at her face that looked troubled, then at her hands that were lightly twisting one of Mr. Hopscotch’s wings.

She was silent for a while and he thought maybe she didn’t then finally she ducked her head so she wasn’t looking at him and admitted in a nervous voice, “... I don’t like the new house... I know Mommy said we would love it here... I miss  _ my _ house.”

Hyde suspected that was the issue, and he was torn between validating her feelings of not liking the new house, which would only make it harder to remind her that they were staying, or trying to reassure her that it was a great house and making her feel worse about not liking it. He chose something in the middle, and hoped he had the right idea.

“Tell me what you don’t like, maybe we can fix it together.” He suggested and at that Jessie looked back up at him and spoke up.

“... The floors in my room are too creaky, and the thingy on the window -“ she pointed to the blinds that were currently covering her windows, “makes scary shapes.”

Those were all something he could take care of and he began to feel a bit more competent, there was at least  something he could do for her. “Okay, those are some easy fixes Man, I can take care of those starting tomorrow morning.”

“... They are?”

“Yeah, of course. We can buy you a carpet so the floors don’t make so much noise under your feet. And we were already going to buy some new covers for the windows, we’ll just, y’know, speed up the process.” After he spoke, she was silent and had a face on that he could guess was the gears turning inside her head on what else to say.

“... Anything else?” He prompted her.

Jessie was more hesitant with her answer this time, “... I miss my ceiling stars, and the tree outside my window.”

“Okay... we can stick new stars on your ceiling, ones that glow all of your favorite colors and we can plant a tree in the yard, down there, and you can watch it grow. You love seeing plants growing, right?”

“... Right.” It was something close to a sigh and he realized that while she did have plenty of things she didn’t like about this place so far, there was always only going to be one problem with it.

“... I get the feeling that none of those things are the problem though, are they.”

She looked even younger and more vulnerable as she admitted quietly, “... I miss Daddy.” the pain he heard inside her voice and the sudden shine of her eyes that hinted at tears would have broken his heart, if the fact that she missed Eric so much didn’t already.

There was a tiny, selfish part of him that wanted his daughter back, that wanted to say in that moment that Daddy was right here, that he was here in the house with her and she didn’t have to miss him, in fact, she wouldn’t have to miss him ever again. Except that would hurt her more than anything, and he never wanted to hurt her. And he knew that even if he told her that, it wouldn’t change anything. Eric was her Dad and Hyde wasn’t, end of story.

“C’mon Kit...” He tried, wrapping an arm around her remembering suddenly the way he had done once before for her mother. “You’re not that far away from your Dad, and you’ll see him every day after school until one of us picks you up.”

Jessie stayed silent, however the silence was louder than any voice and the silence screamed that the arrangement wasn’t good enough for her. She only saw him for a few hours before they took her away again, and then she spent her whole night without him, and her whole day at school. He also knew that once classes ended for the Summer, when Fall came around, she’d be starting new classes closer to them, and then she’d see Eric even less than she did right now. Only on weekends and whenever she was on break.

Even though it was the best thing to do, it wasn’t anyone’s favorite thing to do, least of all for Jessie and Eric. There wasn’t an easy way to do this, and there was nothing he could say that would make things okay in an instant. 

“... Why don’t you try and sleep, the sooner you do, the sooner you can see him again.” It was a lame answer, and he knew it. At least if it worked, he could say he was able to do something for her.

“... Okay.”

Even though their talk had went alright, at least considering she was tucked back into bed instead of pacing around her bedroom and she would try to stay that way, he could see it in her face that she wasn’t sleeping any time soon. She clutched that stuffed grasshopper tightly and when he studied her, there was something familiar in the way she was trying to look like she was okay, but wasn’t. She was trying to be Zen without even realizing it. Even though he didn’t think he knew his little girl enough yet, he knew that face.

There wasn’t much he could do to fix her problems right now, he couldn’t make the new house home yet and he couldn’t make himself home yet to her either. This though, he thought to himself... this he could try to handle.

“Alright, c’mon.” He murmured, opening his arms to her and for a second Jessie just stared at him, confused, as if she wasn’t sure why he wasn’t leaving her there to try and to back to bed by herself. “Kit, if you’re not going back to sleep, I’m not. So we might as well do something else. Now hop on.”

Jessie gave her acceptance with a tiny shrug then, without letting go of Mr. Hopscotch, reached out for his neck and clasped onto him, which allowed him to lift her up and walk with her down the stairs and outside the house.

Hyde used his shoulder to open the door from the house to the garage and walked over to the car, unlocking the car and gently seating Jessie on the hood. She looked up at him with that curious and open expression of hers and he nudged her cheek softly with the side of his finger before ducking inside the car.

From the corner of his eye as he began to set up, he saw his Mini Grasshopper kicking her feet idly and watching him, then after a long moment of silence and fiddling with her soft plush bug, she asked him, “What are you doing?”

“We’re going to play a game, you and me.” He answered as he loaded a tape into the car stereo, then lowered the windows so that the sound could echo through the garage when it started.

“What kinda game?” Jessie asked, tilting her head as she studied him harder. It looked like she was trying to guess what he could be about to have her play by bringing her into the garage.

“I’m about to play a song, I want you to pay close attention to it and when it’s done I want you to tell me about as much of it as you can, got that?” Hyde instructed as he set up the song to repeat.

He hoped that this would work, having her listen to one song and try to keep her focus on the music instead of everything else that was keeping her awake. He pressed play and then exited the car quietly to join Jessie to sit on the hood of the car.

Music began flowing out of the car, loud enough to hear and quiet enough that Jessie would have to focus hard to hear the lyrics. Her face began screwing up with concentration as Jimi Hendrix began to sing and he sat back to watch. 

_ Well, she's walking through the clouds, _

_ With a circus mind that's running wild, _

_ Butterflies and Zebras... _

_ And Moonbeams and Fairytales... _

_ That's all she ever thinks about, _

_ Riding with the wind... _

“Uncle Hyde...?” she started, turning to him “I can’t hear...” he only  _ shh’ed _ her as a response, tapping his ear to remind her to pay attention. She nodded and kept listening. 

He didn’t know how long it was they sat there listening to the song repeat, it was at least a couple of repetitions before it began to work. He saw her start to shift around to get more comfortable, all the trouble from earlier draining from her face as she began to relax. That’s when he put his arm around her and held her close to him so she had something to support her body as it grew heavy with exhaustion. She yawned and inhaled a bit of air as she further sank into him, though she clearly was not giving up on playing their game as she kept opening her eyes as they shut involuntary. He began to run his fingers through the curls on the top of her head to soothe her as yet another repeat of the song continued. 

_ When I'm sad, she comes to me, _

_ With a thousand smiles she gives to me free... _

_ It's alright, she says it's alright. _

_ Take anything you want from me... _

_ Anything... _

_ Fly on little wing... _

When he felt her body go completely limp against him and heard her heavy breathing he turned to her. She was asleep, curled into his side and had one hand wrapped into his shirt with the other holding lightly onto Mr. Hopscotch. She looked a lot like Jackie when she was asleep, delicate and gentle, and he wanted to protect her from the world the same way. He wanted to shield her from any disappointment, including the kinds he had already brought into her life. Both the ones she knew about and the ones he hoped she never would. 

He shifted so he could lift her, as carefully as he could and brought him into his arms again. For a second her eyelashes fluttered and he didn’t even breathe until she was settled again. He glanced at the door that would lead them back into the house, where he could settle her inside her new bed and she would wake up the next morning. Maybe after sleeping there one night, she could handle the next one just fine. 

_Maybe..._ or maybe not. Some feelings didn’t just disappear with one night, and he knew that however much he could do, someone else could do a lot more. 

It only took him a second of hesitation to open-up the car again and strap her into her car seat, then move around front to the drivers seat. 

* * *

He shifted Jessie in his arms, careful not to wake her, and knocked on the door with his available hand. She let out a little whine in her sleep at the sound and buried her face further into his jacket so he steadied his hold on her and waited quietly.

After a wait, the door opened and Hyde was face-to-face with Eric who looked confused to see him on the other side. Lately, the two of them didn’t know how to be in the same room by themselves, often having Jessie or Jackie as a buffer. Even though Jackie and Eric were okay through the divorce, and seemed to stay close  _ (at least as far as he knew, neither of them knew quite how to talk about this particular subject)_, Hyde couldn’t help but feel every time he was alone with him that he had taken a lot from one of the people who had given him the most. He didn’t know if Eric felt that way exactly, but he wasn’t exactly going out of his way to talk to Hyde either, which felt like a clue. 

For a moment the two of them just sort of stayed there locked into a stare, the only sound in the air being the steady breathing of their kid. Eric was the first to break it, staring down at Jessie in his arms, he moved aside so Hyde could bring her in, which he did. “Is she okay?” he asked, his concern visible. “I wasn’t expecting you guys to come by with her until morning.”

“She’s fine, she just couldn’t sleep, I thought this might cheer her up.” Hyde cleared up and Eric relaxed a bit, but had an unreadable expression on his face as he stared at Jessie. He wondered what Eric saw when he looked at Jessie in that moment, and if it was the same things he felt when he looked at her, or if there was just something between the two of them that he missed his chance on ever understanding. 

As if she could sense Dad there, even through her sleep, she began to shift again and started to loosen her grip on him. Hyde took the hint and turned so that Eric could reach over and take Jessie into his arms. 

That much movement made Jessie open her eyes a crack and when she saw who was holding her she perked up, “Daddy?” she asked, her voice hopeful. She looked over fromEric to Hyde, her eyes shining like little stars and he shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal and winked as he said, “Told ya Kit, the sooner you sleep, the sooner you can see your Dad again.”

He tried not to feel left out as Jessie and Eric moved together to her bedroom, leaving him there behind them. 

* * *

  
Hyde, with a blessing to stay the night instead of trying to drive back so late, had passed out on the couch while Eric took over with Jessie, felt himself coming back to consciousness from his light sleep as something light landed on the hand that rested on his stomach while he slept. He could hear the sound of tiny footsteps walking away accompanied by a giggle, which made his eyes crack open. He sat up and felt around, picking up the mystery object which was a piece of construction paper.

He squinted at the paper, clearing the sleep out of his eyes to figure out what Jessie had given him and began to smile as he figured out what was on the page.

There was a big stick figure and a little stick figure, both with super squiggly, curly hair and big smiles and they were holding hands, surrounded by what he guessed were supposed to be zebras  _ (except they were purple?) _ and butterflies together under a bright yellow moon. On the bottom of the page was _**‘THANK YOU’** _written out with all the colors of crayon she had, with lots of stars and lopsided hearts.

He didn’t know how long he stared at the thank you card she had drawn before he finally folded up the paper and stuck it into his pocket safely before laying back and closing his eyes.

He could hear the faint sound of Jessie happily talking to Eric, even though he couldn’t make out what either of them were saying and the content feeling he got from hearing her happy was enough to allow him to drift off back to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Lisa for recommending the song Hyde plays for Jessie this chapter, ‘Little Wing’ by Jimi Hendrix!
> 
> Thanks to Mara for not suing me for referencing Summer Lovin’ subtly for that extra shot of soft!
> 
> Thanks to everyone else for reading!


End file.
